"pole pole"

Kilimanjaro was an experience all on it's own. Can I just say I appreciate life so much more after this trip?! Like camping and not showering for 6 days was difficult. I am so thankful that my parents came to do this with me, for if they were not there I wouldn't have done this. It was so freaking amazing. I really don't know how to describe my experience. 

Kilimanjaro is the tallest freestanding mountain in the world, the roof of Africa and one of the world's largest volcanos. I did it. I climbed mount kilimanjaro. It feels so good to say that. The climb was amazing, you climbed through 5 different climate zones, the cultivated zone, the forest, the heather and moorland, the desert, and the summit (glacier). We climbed with G adventures and I am so glad we did because they are the best! Gipson was our main guide and then eden and danny. We had about 20 porters. They were amazing!! They held so much and some of them didn't have the best hiking shoes. We hiked up the Rongai route and down the marangu route which was great cause we got to see more of the mountain. And Rongai is beautiful and less crowded so there was barely anyone ont he mountain. Here's a day to day on how we climbed in 6 days.

6.5.15

We got to Moshi where we got to the hotel and met the staff and other clients in our group! We had orientation and packed and such. I was very anxious. We hiked with yuya, hannah, lara, and rebecca. It was fun getting to know them throughout the trip. We were like family by the end. We seriously were the best group! I was surprised how well we got along. 

6.6.15

We woke up early to drive about 3 hours to the start of Rongai route. We hiked through a forest pretty much all day to Simba camp. We had the same lunches everyday which we pretty gross. The hike wasn't that steep and it rained just a bit which was the only day it rained. The squat pot there was so gross...that's pretty much all I remember and that we went straight to sleep right when we got there. Also the diamox made us pee a bunch and have tingly hands, so fun right!? i got REALLY good at going to the bathroom while squatting, it's a talent. The dinners were always really good. soup!!!

6.7.15

We then hiked to kikelelwa camp. Pretty much the bushes just got smaller and smaller. And it got colder at night. BUT the stars oh heavens the stars the next few nights were unREAL. like we had perfect weather. and the stars being the high up..gah. perfect. also I loved playing card games with the boys. I taught them B.S. it was so funny holy cow.

6.8.15

We hiked to Mawenzi Tarn camp. It was a long day through grassy slopes and majestic views. Mawenzi is a little peak on the mountain and we camped next to a little lake. It was way pretty. That night Lara really didn't feel good and so she left the next day with danny :( dang altitude sickness. the boys did lots of dancing and singing for us. oh my goodness they are great. We made up a little song to "in the jungle the mighty jungle" for them. 

6.9.15

Then we hiked slowly to kibo hut which is base camp. We hiked through the saddle and got to see an airplane that crashed several years ago so that was pretty cool. I started really feeling the altitude then. I felt fine though. It's just a little hard to breathe with no air, you feel me!? "can't live can't breathe without air" -jordin sparks. getting to base camp was a good feeling but it meant that night we summited...SO much anxiety. We took a nap when we go there in the afternoon, woke up at dinner, and then went back to sleep, got three hours of sleep, wake up at 11pm to summit. It's all a blur cause i was so tired.

6.10.15

We had our headlamps, gloves, layers of clothes, gators, chocolate, jelly beans and moms electrolytes. It took us a long time to summit. I think I could have gone faster but we were a team and some people were really not feeling well. Erick, took my bag like halfway up which was so helpful. He was so nice and we bonded cause we were the same age and he played music I knew off his phone. We went sooooo slow. All I heard those 6 days was "pole pole" which means slowly slowly. We were pretty much slow motion it was hilarious (kind of). I was feeling okay I just had my mind on the peak and I was not going to let myself not make it. Mind set is everything! Gipson, Lazareth, Eden, and Erick took us up. They were AMAZING. they had soooo much energy when all of us had the hardest time breathing. I never was cold, only my fingers. I had to take off layers at the top. the boys sang us up the whole way. I couldn't have done it without them. They kept us going. We all encouraged eachother up. It took us over 6 hours to get to the top at gilman's point. We got there right at sunrise. The sunrise was beautiful!!!! ah amazing. I was so happy to get there and then gipson said okay let's get to the peak, the highest point it Uhuru. I saw it across the mountain and it looked so far....in reality it wasn't so bad but with the altitude and with how tired we were it was so hard. I was dying. I finally made it to the top and it was amazing. You could see mt meru and ahhh i love being above the clouds. You could see the glaciers and the crater. We took some pictures and grabbed some rocks and then headed back down. I felt so weird. I really didn't feel good. Luckily I had gators cause we like slid down the sleet which would have been fun if i didn't feel like crap. I was so dehydrated and I needed food. Cause I barely ate or drank anything. Getting to base camp was an amazing site. I felt like crap though. We took a nap, ate, and then headed to horombo hut. I felt a lot better and it was fun going down another route. so pretty. the sunset was gorg that night. horombo hut actually had huts, lol but we were in tents, i was so sick of camping. It was so cold every night. I was so happy to have summited.

6.11.15

The last dayyy! shower dayy! it was a long day hiking down but i was so happy. We had a warm lunch which was good. I hiked the last half with hannah, yuya, and gipson. Hiking through the forest was beautiful. When I saw the end sign...i couldn't believe my eyes. We got certificates for making it to the top. I was so proud of myself and everyone!!! SO amazing. On the bus riding to the hotel I was a little sad that this adventure was over. We had gotten so close. I miss everyone! I couldn't have done it without them.

I still can't believe I hiked it. I hiked the tallest mountain in africa. what. I learned that if you have your mind set on something you can do anything. It was the hardest physical thing I have done but it was the best thing.

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tupendane (love eachother)

oh my goodness so yeah it's almost been a month since I have been home and I have been putting off blogging about the last bits of my trip. This post will be about the orphanage I worked at and final thoughts. Tupendane is the name of the Orphanage and it means love eachother. Isn't that just awesome!?! What I really learned about teaching there is all you really need is love, the beatles were right. These kids are dying for some love + attention. Some are orphans and some come from around the area for school. Whether they have parents or not I highly doubt they get much attention at home. We come into class and the kids swarm us. It made me tired everyday with the kids sitting on you, pulling you and just constantly grabbing you. They just want to be loved.

The Mount Meru Uhuru Vulnerable Foundation and Tupendane Orphanage Center, better known as Tupendane, opened its doors to the community on January 1, 2011. At the start, Tupendane had nine children. Director Emmanuel Shayo and his wife Margret started Tupendane, which translates to “love each other” in Swahili,  in an effort to help Tanzania’s most vulnerable children. Tupendane’s vision is

To create a plethora of opportunities and a better environment for vulnerable children, so that these children need worry only about making their dreams come true.”

Tupendane is located in the Usa River Village in the Arusha district of Tanzania. Tupendane is always accepting new children, and as the children reach the ages of seven and eight, they often leave to attend the nearby public school. At any given time, there will be approximately thirty students at Tupendane, between the ages of two and eight. About half of the children live at the center, while the other half travel back and forth from home each day. Those who live at the center may be orphaned, but in most cases, their families are either too poor to care for them, or live too far away for them to travel home regularly.

Like I've said before, it takes about an hour or more to get there. We get there around tea time. They only have tea for breakfast, fried plantains if they are lucky. The tea is served so hot. We helped serve and blow on the teas haha. We then hand washed the cups. Teacher Rose is 22. She is a sweet heart. She is a little shy it's cute. She is a great teacher. Class time she teaches english, math and swahili. Honestly the lack of education is really sad. It was really hard for me at first. I wanted to teach the kids everything and it was so frustrating with the language barrier. I mean 7 year olds didn't know how to add or subtract. A little girl vanessa could barely hold her pencil. Patience and love is key. I had to think of new ways to teach them without talking. They had these old workbooks that have ripped pages and are just so worn out. The pencils were two inches long and they were all fighting over the sharpener and rubbers (erasers). The day I bought them new pencils was probably the best day. You should have seen how happy they were. They were so excited to do there work. I brought losts of gifts from donations from home (thank you everyone). They loved anything really. My favorite was when I gave them glow sticks. Oh my goodness their faces when they cracked them and they lit up. They had never seen anything like it. These kids pretty much have nothing. And yet they are the happiest kids I have seen. They constantly hit eachother but I know they love eachother and watch out for eachother. They had the same lunch every day, beans and corn. Sometimes rice and beans. They share water all out of 4 cups. There are about 30 kids. New kids came in ever so often. During free time us volunteers got to choose what to do. I liked going out when it was nice. Ah going out was so fun. Crazy but fun. We went to a field aross the street. And all the other neighbor kids not in school came to play. Some of the kids were very dirty. It was sad to see. They loved playing with us. We did games, songs, dancing, soccer, basketball, jump rope, frisbee, hopscotch, and watched movies. 

I wish I could give these kids everything. I gave them all I could. The orphanage is doing a great job and the owners are the sweetest, and Michael too! They gave me a certificate and a homemade shirt and maasai skirt!! It was so nice, they are so sweet!! Tanzanians love giving gifts, it's a part of the culture. They always offer you food when you are over as well. I learned so much from working here. I made my dream come true. I love these african babies. I wish I could have taken them all home with me. Oh the joy they gave me when they hugged me or gave me huge smiles. During class time they would always turn around to look at me. I know you're not supposed to have favorites...but Samweli was definitely my favorite. I really would have adopted him if I could. 

On my last day there, my parents came. It was so special to show them around. They kids LOVED them. Especially my dad. holy cow my dad was so good with some of them. I have never seen jacob smile so much. He is the oldest boy and is a punk sometimes. Some days were a lot of work and I didn't want to go cause it was so far but it always was worth it. You just had to think about the kids. Their hearts are so pure. I may or may not have cried my last day. Leaving was SO hard. I miss them so much.

Someone recently asked me if this experience changed my life. I didn't know how to respond. I never really thought about it. It's definitely made me change how I look at life. I'm trying to look at life in a simpler way. I have been so blessed in growing up in America where I really could do whatever I want. In Tanzania there are just not the same opportunities. I am so grateful for my life and being able to come and serve the people of africa just for a little bit. 

I've always wanted to come to Africa. Tanzania was the biggest dream of mine. This experience was SO out of my comfort zone. I flew out here knowing NO ONE, to a whole different continent. I have made some of the best friends here. It's awesome I have friends literally all over the world. We have so many inside jokes and have had so many good times going out on the town. Honestly I wouldn't have changed anything about this trip. It was too perfect to really put in words. I have learned a lot about myself. I learned that I would rather be out hanging with the neighborhood kids after placement than hanging out with people from the house. I came to Africa to serve, not to go out and drink! All the kids knew me, kids I didn't even know would be like "Natalia Natalia!!" I surprisingly learned a lot of swahili btw, I'm quite proud but I think I lost a lot of it. The people of Tanzania have blessed my life and I am better because of them. I am thankful for everyone who helped me get to Africa. Nakupenda Sana Tanzania <3 I hope to see you soon one day.

 click here for a video